New proprietor Mat Ishbia constructed a superteam in Phoenix, bringing Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal along with Devin Booker. The primary season led to a first-round sweep and a $68M tax invoice. Listed below are three questions for the second 12 months of the Suns’ Large Three period.
1. Can Bradley Beal keep wholesome?
The Suns solely had their Large Three collectively for 41 video games within the common season, due to a sequence of accidents to Beal. Beal missed 18 of the season’s first 21 video games with a again harm and later suffered accidents to his ankle, hamstring, finger and broke his nostril. It is the fourth straight season he is missed 22 or extra video games, and the season earlier than, he missed 15.
Booker has missed not less than 15 video games previously 4 seasons, whereas Durant loved his healthiest season since 2018-19, suiting up for 75 video games. After all, he then obtained damage main as much as the Olympics. However it’s Beal, who’s making over $50M this season, who’s the actual harm concern.
When he performed, Beal averaged 18.2 factors and 5 assists, making 43 p.c of his three-pointers. The Suns went 26-15 when Beal, Booker and Durant all performed, which was good for a 52-win tempo. However a crew with this a lot firepower must be higher than ninth in offensive ranking for the Suns, not precisely a shutdown defensive crew, to be a real contender.
2. How will this crew look with an actual level guard?
Booker took the reins at level guard for a lot of final season, averaging 6.9 assists. That is as a result of the Suns’ different choices had been Jordan Goodwin, Saben Lee and an out-of-position Eric Gordon. Now they’ve added some actual level guard depth in Tyus Jones, making an attempt to rebuild his worth after a nightmare season in Washington, and veteran backup Monte Morris.
The query is whether or not the presence of Jones pushes starter Grayson Allen to the bench. Including Jones actually helps facilitate the offense along with his drive-and-kick expertise, plus his extraordinarily low turnover charge (Jones averaged 7.3 assists with just one turnover in 2023-24). However Jones is considerably smaller and a worse defender than Allen, who let gamers he defended rating on 52.9 p.c of their photographs final season (Allen allowed 45.7 p.c).
The Suns actually could be higher off with Beal coming off the bench, however it’s exhausting to think about he’d be pleased as a $50M sixth man. So whereas Jones and Morris must be an enormous assist to the offense, Phoenix must discover a pleased medium between scoring and defending. Or, simply attempt to win each sport 125-120.
3. Will Mike Budenholzer unlock the offense?
Former Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer took over the crew this summer season, the crew’s third coach in as a few years. Coach Bud led the Bucks to an NBA Finals win over the Suns in 2021, however was fired two years later. Postseason disappointments led Budenholzer to lose his job, but when he will get his gamers to purchase in, Budenholzer’s tendencies ought to assist some downside areas for the Suns.
For one, his groups like to shoot the three. In all however one in all Budenholzer’s 10 seasons as a head coach, his groups have been within the high eight of NBA groups in three-point makes an attempt. Final 12 months, regardless of having the fifth-best three-point proportion, the Suns had been twenty fifth in makes an attempt.
